Most of her staff would know their Bible, but would everyone know how to spell rhinoceros? It occurred to me that she might set her staff a spelling test.

I had already discovered that the story about the children’s home being blighted by subsidence was not true. Others may have uncovered the lie. In an area teeming with experienced miners, people would know about such things.

For the first time, I felt anxious for Gertrude. In spite of her faults, I felt sure she always tried to do her warped best. I had seen that this morning at the mill. Much was out of her hands, and yet she tried to do something.

Someone from this area had killed the unknown man. Perhaps the question I should be asking was, Who next?

“Gertrude, why did you have the Bluebell Home demolished?”

She took her time to answer.

“It wasn’t my choice.”

“There was no subsidence.”

“If we don’t open another seam, Benjie will end up filing for bankruptcy. The mill will close. It will be the end of Thorpefield.”

“So Benjie created an explosion in Bluebell Wood, to make it seem that there had been some disturbance underground. The earth quaking, followed by ‘subsidence’. The kind of thing that people are so afraid of.”

“Benjie didn’t light the touch paper himself, of course. The story about subsidence could have been true. And now we are being threatened.”

“Do you suspect a member of staff sent these letters?”

“It’s a possibility. And Kate, there’s something else.”

“Oh?”

“The chest that was pushed in front of the darkroom door, I asked the housekeeper to find a key and see what was in it.”

“What?”

“Dynamite. We could all be blown to kingdom come. Whoever did that could be the same person who is sending the letters.”

At that moment, Benjie came in. “I have some good news!”

“Benjie, darling, did you know there is a chest of dynamite in the cellar?”

“Oh yes.” He placed a sheet of paper on the table. With great care, and careful use of tweezers, he produced a postage stamp from a small packet. He set the stamp down in the centre of the paper.

Raynor followed, bringing a magnifying glass.

Gertrude and I looked at the stamp. I thought she might burst into tears. She was a woman dredged of patience.

“Benjie, this is not a good time to be adding to your stamp collection.”

“Don’t you see the significance? I have the largest collection of Penny Blacks in Great Britain, possibly in the world.”

“You are sleepwalking through our lives.”

Benjie put his postage stamp back in its packet. “I said Dell could join us for supper, discuss what we’re to do about the mill and so on.”

“Have you forgotten we have a guest?”